MARION - A Marion Township tax levy that would have funded road maintenance and repair will no longer be on the May primary ballot.

The 1.5-mill levy was withdrawn after questions arose about who could vote on the levy.

The levy was proposed by the Marion Township trustees and was meant to generate an estimated $285,565 annually for maintenance, repair and snow removal on township roads.

But Marion County Board of Elections member Steve Chaffin said that the way the ballot issue was proposed, voters living in the city of Marion would have been able to vote on the levy.

Marion Township includes the city of Marion — voters living inside the city of Marion were able to vote for Marion Township trustees in the last election. The city of Marion could choose to secede from the township, said Chaffin, but that has never happened.

Marion Township trustees intended that only the township voters living outside the city — that is, in the unincorporated areas of Marion Township — would vote on the proposed road levy.

"We know that if you would put the city in with it, of course (the ballot issue) would go down," said Marion Township Board of Trustees Chair Karen McCleary. "It's not their roads."

But Chaffin said the trustees were required under Ohio law to create a special voting district — similar to a school district or a fire district — if they wanted to put the issue only before township voters living outside the city.

Otherwise, "whenever the township tries to levy taxes, they have to do so township-wide, and that means not only the unincorporated areas get to vote on these levies, but so does the city," he said.

McCleary said the trustees had received conflicting advice from the Ohio Township Association, saying in effect that the township did not have to create a road district in order to put the proposed tax levy only to township voters outside the city.

Utimately, the Ohio Secretary of State's office did not approve the ballot language for the issue, said Marion County Board of Elections Deputy Director Sue Schwamberger. The secretary of state's office recommended that they consult the county prosecutor's office on revising the ballot language.

Schwamberger said it was "not normal" for the secretary of state's office to do that.

"No, most of them go through," she said.

McCleary said the township trustees decided to pull the ballot issue instead of potentially "hold(ing) up" the board of elections as it works to finalize the primary ballots.

The board of elections must have primary ballots ready by March 24, Schwamberger said.

McCleary said the township still needs more money to pay for road improvements. The township trustees have pointed to limited funding sources for townships, the elimination of Ohio's estate tax and reductions in revenue being generated from personal property taxes as reasons the township is looking to the voters for help.

"Bottom line is we do need the extra money, so hopefully we can come together and figure things out in time for the November ballot," she said.

The filing deadline for local issues for November's general election is Aug. 8.

McCleary said the trustees could discuss the tax levy at their next regular meeting, which is at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.